ASQ 2008

The Admitted Student Questionnaire, sponsored by The College Board, is sent to all students who have been admitted to Earlham. The questionnaire is designed to find out what students really think of our programs, recruitment literature, financial aid packages, competition, and more. Students are asked to rate colleges on image (highly respected, expensive, diverse, etc.) and on characteristics (academic reputation, cost of attendance, quality of academic facilities, etc.). The College Board provides a detailed report of their findings.

Thirty-five percent of the students who were admitted for Fall 2008 completed the survey. Of those who responded, 44.5% enrolled at Earlham.

The detailed report of the Admitted Student Questionnaire can be found in hard copy in the Office of Institutional Research. To view some of the highlights from the ASQ report on-line, click on the following links:

Students rank the importance of characteristics (pdf) and then rate Earlham and competitors on those characteristics

Yields realized for need-based aid applicants and for students awarded need-based aid by Earlham

To what extent was the financial aid award significant factor in enrollment decision?

Ratings of cost

Influence on yield of financial aid or college cost

Amount and type of financial aid awarded

Aid percentage by type

Methods of financing parental contribution

Overlap with other colleges

Number of applications and admissions to other colleges

Top twelve competitors

Colleges attended by non-enrolling students

Win/loss analysis for colleges with greatest number of cross-admissions

Top choice colleges

Preference rank of colleges attended by all admitted students

High-achieving students (self-reported admissions test scores in top 25%)

Importance and rating of college characteristics

College images

Financial Aid applications and awards

Amount and type of financial aid awarded

Win/loss analysis – for colleges with greatest numbers of cross-admissions

The Admitted Student Questions also provides us with competitor analysis for Oberlin, Grinnell, Wooster, Beloit and Kenyon. It begins with an overview of the comparison groups comparing Earlham and these schools on academic, social, and setting factors.

For each competitor college, we are given the following data:

Applications and admission overlap

Demographic profile of students rating our competitors

Summary of comparison with these competitors

Comparative importance and rating of college characteristics

Yield for college characteristics rated very important

College characteristics

Ratings of characteristics for Earlham and our competitors

Magnitude and direction of ratings differences between Earlham and competitors

College images

College images frequently associated with Earlham and our competitors

Exposure to sources of information

Sources of information rated excellent

Financial aid and cost

For information from the detailed report, contact Polly Wilde in the Office of Institutional Research.

Earlham College, an independent, residential college, aspires to provide the highest-quality undergraduate education in the liberal arts, including the sciences, shaped by the distinctive perspectives of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).